Focus battle! Kovac: Bayern is the favorite and Dortmund is the challenger. We need to test the training results

In the seventh round of the Bundesliga on October 18, Dortmund will challenge Bayern Munich, the currently unbeaten league leader, away from home. Before the game, Dortmund coach Kovac attended a press conference.

For Dortmund, who is also unbeaten, this clash is the first of 7 games in 22 days, 6 of which are away games. Niko Kovac's side will have to show quality and physicality on the pitch in this head-to-head clash against the leaders, especially given that Dortmund will be spending a lot of time on the road over the next three weeks.

Kovac explained at the pre-match press conference in Munich that it is not always easy to do this, especially after the international break. Kovac is particularly pleased that all international players involved in international duty have returned to Dortmund since Thursday morning. The most important thing is: "All players are currently basically healthy." Except for the long-term injured Emre Can, Anselmino and Duranville (who have resumed participating in part of the joint training), only Schlotterbeck (cold) and Bensebaini, who just returned from Algeria this morning, were absent from the team's joint training on Thursday. "I expect both players to be back training together on Friday," Kovac said.

Kovac also needs a complete lineup in Munich, because Bayern is not just unbeaten at the beginning of the season: Bayern has not lost at home since losing 2-3 at home to Bochum on March 8. Kovac said he certainly knows this, and he is well aware of the state of his old club under coach Kompany: "This is unique, and it shows the strength of the team." The coach made it clear, "Bayern is the favorite. We are the challenger who wants to hurt our opponents."

In the last three meetings with the league hegemon, Dortmund's strategy has worked well: the past three games have resulted in one victory (2-0) and two draws (1-1, 2-2). The most recent one was a 2-2 draw with Dortmund at the Allianz Arena in April and a point. "If we can attack the opponent like we did in the second half, then we will have our chance," Kovac said when looking back on the latest encounter.

He said that creating opportunities on Saturday will be the key: "Just defending is not enough, because Bayern is too strong, " explained the coach who knows the key: "Get into the game smoothly, be brave, keep the formation compact, and keep the opponent away from our goal to create opportunities. "

Kovac does not believe that Bayern will underestimate Dortmund because of its favorite status: "Because we have proven this season that we can indeed perform well."

As before every game, before the clash with the leaders, Kovac also emphasized that he mainly wants to focus on himself and his team. "We must go all out and be 100% in all aspects to have a chance. We must win every one-on-one confrontation. If something goes wrong somewhere, a second player must fill in. It must rely on the whole. The question now is that we have to test the results of our training in a focus game. "

Kovac's players have done a good job in this regard in the past few weeks: Dortmund is currently undefeated in the league for 14 consecutive games.